The U.S., in a resolution to be put before the United Nations in Geneva this month, will express concern about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, four years after the 26-year civil war ended there.

The war climaxed in a May 2009 offensive by the Sri Lankan army against Tamil separatists, which a United Nations panel estimated cost 40,000 lives, mainly civilians.

Advertisement

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised soon after the war to mount an independent probe into allegations of rights abuses. The U.S. and other governments say the country has failed to do so and authorities continue to carry out abuses against the country’s Tamil minority.

Sri Lankan officials blame the Tamil diaspora in the U.S. and elsewhere for fueling the allegations, which they deny. “Separatist forces are still very active in this country and abroad,” said Mohan Samaranayake, a spokesman for Mr. Rajapaksa.

India’s Tamil parties, who are strong in the south of the country, want India to support the U.S. resolution at the Human Rights Council. On Thursday, some of them walked out of India’s Parliament in protest at India’s refusal to say whether it plans to back the U.S. or not.

Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid replied that India had to be careful not to “play the policeman of the world or the big brother in any country.”

While India’s Congress party-led coalition government doesn’t want to anger Mr. Rajapaksa, it also has to keep its Tamil party allies happy.

Last year, India backed a similar U.S.-sponsored resolution at the Human Rights Council under huge pressure from Indian Tamil parties, causing a backlash in Sri Lanka.

On Friday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told India’s Parliament: “We are making all efforts with the Sri Lankan government for reconciliation and an honorable settlement for Tamil people.”

Sri Lankan newspapers have printed what they say is the latest draft of the U.S.-sponsored resolution, which has been circulated among diplomats and will be put before the Human Rights Council before its current session ends March 22.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department acknowledged the draft but declined to comment further

According to the Sri Lankan reports, the U.S. will express concern at continued “reports of violations of human rights in Sri Lanka, including enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, torture, violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, as well as intimidation of and reprisals against human rights defenders, members of civil society and journalists, and threats to judicial independence and the rule of law.”

The draft also calls on Sri Lanka to follow through on recommendations from its own state commission on how to bring about reconciliation in Sri Lanka after the brutal civil war. The commission suggested Colombo demilitarize Tamil-majority areas in the north, among other measures to reach out to Tamil communities, but this has not happened, rights groups say.

In a report last month, New York-based Human Rights Watch claimed the Sri Lankan army is using sexual violence to torture suspected members or supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the militant group better known as the Tamil Tigers that lost the 2009 offensive.

Rights groups also point to Mr. Rajapaksa’s removal in January of Shirani Bandaranayake , then chief justice, as evidence his government is moving to quash judicial independence.

A parliamentary committee earlier had accused Ms. Bandaranayake of amassing unexplained wealth while in office and misusing power. She denies the charges and claims to have been targeted for defending the judiciary from political interference.

Mr. Samaranayake, the Sri Lankan president’s spokesman, declined to comment on the U.S. draft resolution. He said the former chief justice was removed “on the basis of constitutional provisions.”

He denied the armed forces were using sexual violence against suspected Tamil separatists.

About India Real Time

India Real Time offers analysis and insights into the broad range of developments in business, markets, the economy, politics, culture, sports, and entertainment that take place every single day in the world’s largest democracy. Regular posts from Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires reporters around the country provide a unique take on the main stories in the news, shed light on what else mattered and why, and give global readers a snapshot of what Indians have been talking about all week. You can contact the editors at indiarealtime(at)wsj(dot)com.